Michigan true-crime author exhumes the Bluebeard of Royal Oak

Helmuth Schmidt, circa 1914. One of the only known photographs of Schmidt before he moved to Detroit, this portrait appeared in the April 23, 1918, Detroit Times under the caption, “Royal Oak Slaying Suspect And Daughter.”

Fans of Erik Larson’s true-crime historical epics (“The Devil in the White City,” “In the Garden of Beasts”) may get a kick out of Tobin T. Buhk’s “The Shocking Story of Helmuth Schmidt: Michigan’s Original Lonely Hearts Killer” (The History Press, $19.99). While the book doesn’t offer as much historical perspective as those weightier tomes, it is a snapshot of Michigan and American life, culture and crime at the tail end of World War I.

Set mainly in Royal Oak on the eve of Prohibition (which came to Michigan one year early, largely thanks to lobbying by Henry Ford), the book examines the case of Augusta Steinbach, a German emigre working as a maid in New York, who answers a matrimonial ad placed by one Herman Neugebauer and follows him to Royal Oak in 1917. Soon after, she disappears, and foul play is suspected.

Detective work, mostly by friends of Steinbach — particularly Agnes Domaniecki — uncovers that Neugebauer also goes by several other names, including Helmuth Schmidt, and is already married. Further investigation reveals more aliases and other wives, most of whom also have gone missing. Then there’s Schmidt’s wife, Helen, and daughter, Gertrude, who Steinbach was told were Neugebauer’s sisters.

Stir in WWI-era suspicion toward Germans (many were feared to be saboteurs, and some actually were), a couple of unexpected suicides and real-life forensic and legal twists, and the well-documented story is just getting started when it seems about to end.

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Buhk, who teaches English and history near Grand Rapids, has written or co-written four other books, all involving true crime, mostly historical.

His first two books — “Cause of Death: Forensic Files of a Medical Examiner” (Prometheus Books, 2007) and “Skeletons in the Closet: Stories from the County Morgue” (Prometheus Books, 2008) — were collaborations with Kent County coroner Stephen D. Cohle, intended to “expose the real world of forensic pathology, as opposed to TV.”

He followed these up with his first solo book, “True Crime: Michigan: The State’s Most Notorious Criminal Cases” (Stackpole Books, 2011).

Buhk said he’s “fascinated by the Civil War,” too, which led to “True Crime in the Civil War: Cases of Murder, Treason, Counterfeiting, Massacre, Plunder & Abuse” (Stackpole Books, 2012).

He first learned of Helmuth Schmidt while researching a chapter in “True Crime: Michigan” about Raymond Martinez Fernandez and Martha Jule Beck, the “Lonely Hearts Killers” who were caught in Wyoming Township before extradition to New York (probably because Michigan had no death penalty).

Buhk said he thought Schmidt “looked like Fernandez,” in methods and motives, and he started poking around the archives. “As a writer of true crime, those discoveries are magical, fun,” Buhk said.

The case got more interesting for Buhk after Schmidt was caught and made a partial confession. Not only is there a question of whether or how involved were Helen and Gertrude in Schmidt’s crimes, but then another wife turns up alive: Adele Ullrich Braun. Among other things, Braun alleges that Schmidt was spying for the German government, possibly involved with saboteurs. Was this slander from a wronged woman — Schmidt took her money and probably intended to kill her — or a story Schmidt told his women (all of whom were German-born) to keep them in line? Buhk isn’t sure. “Was Schmidt a product of his crimes or his times?”

The book includes many photos and documents (plus a few illustrations by Buhk’s father, R.P. Buhk, a retired industrial designer and artist), as well as detailed end notes.

Buhk’s already at work on his next book about another Michigan killer, Mary McKnight of Kalkaska. She confessed to killing her brother with strychnine in 1903, but is believed to have killed several other people. Look for it next year.

Buhk will speak on “The Shocking Story of Helmuth Schmidt,” 6 p.m. Oct. 23, at the Royal Oak Public Library. Check www.ropl.org or www.tobinbuhk.com for more information.